New Series: AIRGUN WISDOM [AIRGUN WISDOM #1]

I have been wanting to do this for awhile; I am starting a new series about the do's and don'ts of airguns. The series will be called "AIRGUN WISDOM." I hope that you will find these posts informative and entertaining. Please feel free to comment if you feel that something I've said is in error, or if you think I left out something important; I am by no means an expert on airguns, but I do consider myself an advanced user. And I am always learning new things, and sometimes, even getting fresh perspectives on things I thought I knew.

This is AIRGUN WISDOM #1: Don't Oil Your Gun!

It sounds counter-intuitive, I know! But it's true; An airgun does need a little lubrication on the seals and external pivot joints, and keeping the barrel clean and free of debris is important; however, companies like Umarex promote maintenance schedules which are unrealistic, and in some cases, even downright EXCESSIVE. 

The following screen shots are from the owner's manuals for the Diana 460 Magnum, and the Diana P5 Magnum. Take a look:

Taken from the Diana 460 Magnum Owner's Manual

Taken from the Diana P5 Magnum Owner's Manual.

Notice, the 460 manual comes right out and says it: "The working parts, like the piston and main spring, need no lubrication." The Diana P5 manual does not say it directly, but it also makes no mention of oiling either the piston or the main spring. 

Basically, all that needs be done to the average Diana airgun is to keep the barrel clean and free of debris, to apply the slightest and most seldom lubrication to the seals and external pivot joints, and the wiping of the outside of the gun very lightly with an oily cloth after use (Red Feather from The Dianawerk Collective recommends Birchwood Casey Barricade) to prevent rust. (Your fingerprints are oily; if you don't wipe the fingerprints off of your gun, they will eventually cause the metal to rust.)

But if you've looked around, you're probably thinking, "Ok, so there's a video on the Umarex website which says that you need to lubricate your breech seal and your compression chamber every 1000 shots."

This is not entirely true; periodic lubrication in the manner described by Umarex is a dated procedure, which is not usually necessary with modern airguns. Such lubrication practices are more appropriate for older (antique) airguns having leather seals, rather than synthetic ones.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Taken from Tom Gaylord's Pyramyd Air Blog:)

"Leather piston and breech seals need lots of frequent oiling. Many of the older guns are also lower-powered, so the oil can be petroleum-based, if you like. For a gun with a leather piston seal, I would oil the seal every time you shoot the gun if you only shoot it occasionally, or once every two weeks if you shoot all the time. Drop 5-10 drops of oil down the air transfer port and allow it time to soak into the leather [...] if the gun has a leather breech seal, drop two drops of oil on the seal and allow it to soak in. If the seal is synthetic, it doesn't need any oil. It will be oiled by the small amount of oil that's blown from the transfer port as the gun is fired."

"Guns with synthetic seals require far less lubrication. The best of them are the RWS Diana rifles whose piston seals are nearly self-lubricating [...] On average, a single drop of silicone chamber oil every 1,500 shots or once a year is about all they require. You can double that time for RWS Diana guns. The oil goes down the transfer port, the same as for guns with leather seals."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First of all, Tom Gaylord is a widely respected airgun writer who maintains a blog for Pyramyd Air, a very respected internet airgun retailer that is dedicated to good customer service.

But notice (in regard to chamber oil) how Tom says that it's every 1,500 shots, not every 1,000; he also says to double that for Diana airguns. Therefore, a Diana might need a drop of chamber lubricant every 3,000 shots or so. A SINGLE DROP. In the Umarex video, they recommend THREE drops. That's 300% more lubricant, and three times more often, than Tom recommends for synthetic seal guns, and it is this kind of excessive lubrication that causes airgun tuners to recommend against lubing your gun at all.

For example:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Taken from Charlie Da Tuna's website:)

Don’t oil your gun.

Don’t use or introduce any lubes into your compression chamber through the port or into the barrel. Also, do not use or introduce oils on the spring or into the cocking slot of the action. This lube migrates to the cylinder walls and weeps its way into the compression chamber. 

The reason for this is that it causes detonation that damages the seal as well as causes the spring to fatigue and collapse and can actually cause the spring to fracture. It greatly increases the double recoil shock and that can damage your scope. It also causes your gun to have erratic velocity that seriously impacts the accuracy.

If properly tuned using the proper lubes, your gun can go for years without needing to be lubed internally although external linkage lubing and maintenance will need to be ongoing.  

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Umarex video also recommends oiling the main spring, with as many as 6 drops of lubricant; Tom Gaylord has a different point of view, and it's a viewpoint that I strongly agree with. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following is taken from Part 3 of Tom's "Oil Series":

Here I have to burst some bubbles, as there has been a great disservice done to airgunners for the past 40 years. I'm speaking about oiling the mainspring of a gun. The disservice is the fact that oil isn't normally the right lube to use on a mainspring. It is, however, the easiest lube to apply, which is why I think it has been pushed so hard. On many spring guns, there's a cocking slot through which at least part of the mainspring can be see once the gun is out of the stock, so airgun dealers have told shooters they should apply oil through that slot.

But oiling isn't enough for most mainsprings. They need grease, and the only way to do the job right is to disassemble the action and apply the grease directly to the spring. Sorry, folks, but that's a fact. This is especially true for the modern magnum springers. Oiling just doesn't get it, but it's easy and shooters feels they've done their part when they do it.

This picture is from Tom Gaylord's Pyramyd Air Blog.

This is the correct amount of black tar for a mainspring for a rifle that vibrates a lot. For one that has a spring that's sized closer, you only need a fraction of this amount.

With guns that shoot under 12 foot-pounds and have leather piston seals, I like to see a medium-weight grease used--something lithium-based, perhaps. For all others, I like the more viscous greases that don't fling off--the black tars, if you will. How much you use depends on what you're trying to accomplish. You may remember that I recently tuned an HW55 with just a kiss of black tar. It sped up the gun without bringing any vibration into the operation. That's about as perfect as you can hope for.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, I think this pretty much says it all; your airgun doesn't need a lot of internal lubrication. In most (not all) cases, there is a good deal of moly and tar already inside the gun from the factory, and this stuff is thick, like a paste. It wears off VERY SLOWLY, unlike the more liquid / less viscous lubricants that Umarex and other companies are hawking. If you ever think that your gun is getting dry (there have been some reports recently on local forums, circa Feb-Mar 2014, that Diana guns have been shipped "nearly dry," although I have not seen the term clearly defined,) and you think that the main spring or piston is in need of lubrication, do yourself a favor, and take the gun to your local airgunsmith, or mail it to a reputable airgun tuner, and let them re-moly it for you. You'll be glad you did.